Monday, September 9, 2013

Living a Mature Spirituality

100
Catholics were asked at the end of Mass: What do you understand
spirituality to be? More than half of them hesitated and couldn't give
an answer. A columnist, discussing this situation in the Catholic Times,
asserts that most of the others who answered would probably find it
difficult to speak about spirituality for 10 minutes. This would also be
true, he says, for those who have lived the Christian life for many
years.Though
we often hear the word 'spirituality' mentioned when the topic of
religion is brought up, its meaning is not easily understood; it's often
shrouded in mystery, says the columnist. Partly because, he suggests,
there are different kinds of spiritualities such as a martyr's
spirituality, a layperson's spirituality, ecological spirituality, and
so on, which makes for confusion.The
absence of spirituality, the columnist says, is a shadow hanging over
the Korean Church. We speak often of the crisis of faith, he says, but
it is more often a lack of spirituality. The spirituality that the Holy
Spirit fosters in us gives us a way of seeing God, providing us with a
world view, an ethical vision, and life values--all included in the word
spirituality, enabling us to love God, neighbor, ourselves and
creation, for we all participate in the priesthood of Jesus.One
seminary professor saw spirituality as the strength that Jesus gives us
enabling us to live wisely in society, without which we would not have
the dynamic will to live correctly, and doing it with happiness and meaningfulness. Spirituality gives us a deep insight into the workings of our society.

Another
priest made a study of the secularization of the Korean Catholic Church
for his master's decree. Referring to the 1984 Gallup survey, he noted
that 37 percent of Catholics were looking for well-being from their
religious life; in 2004, the percentage was 74 percent. Goals of eternal
life and meaningfulness were extremely low in comparison to achieving
well-being. We can see from this statistic, he says, that the
psychological motivation of Catholics mirrors the crisis that the Church
in Korea faces today.

With
the religious life of most Catholics being bound up with satisfying
personal goals, their faith life becomes submerged in self gratification. This is clearly seen by the way we pick and choose what
to believe and follow. We often hear that there is little difference between those who believe and those who don't. Many Catholics do not agree with what the Church teaches.

Spirituality
is not something that comes down from heaven that miraculously changes
us, but something we personally have to make part of our life. if not,
we are living without a compass and trying to make sense of our life
without having a competent guide. Living without a compass may be quick
and easy, but it is a dangerous way to live, he says, for we are
separating ourselves from Christ.

The
purpose of all this, no matter the kind of words we put together, is
to live in the way Christ showed us, and to live with the strength that
he continues to give us. This is the kind of spirituality that we as
Christians must aspire to.